Intro: Feeling So Lonely
Edited by John R. Houk
© November 23, 2013
Shamim Masih about the complete travesty of the persecution of Christians in Pakistan. I posted an editorial from journalist Lubna Thomas Benjamin a couple of days ago who touched on the same issue. Shamim delves more into the specifics including the disposition of his circumstances of life in Pakistan. Not only is poverty and discrimination rampant in Pakistan, but the local Christian leadership appears to be corrupt taking donations from the West and not distributing to the needs of the poverty stricken Christian victims of poverty and Islamic violence. Most recently, but by no means a singularity, the All Saints Church in Peshawar was blown up by a couple of homicidal-suicide bombers causing deaths in the hundreds. The poorer victims of that Muslim attack have not received any consolation from the Church leadership, BUT the friends, family and Christian elites involved in the victimhood have received spiritual and monetary consolation.
Adding to the this inter-Christian class struggle is that there seems to be a turf war between some Church leadership that united with other denominations and the original Church leadership of the Lutheran denomination that claim the victims are a part of their diocese. The idiocy of the turf war comes down to which diocese should receive the donations from Western sources for the situation.
I am having difficulty in understanding exactly who Shamim is critical of in this controversy; however he names that a Bishop Humphrey Peters wrote a letter to Christian-Pakistani activist Wilson Chaudhry that he is the authentic Bishop and that donations should come to him. When I attempted to discern who the bad guy was, the information I found is that there is also a Bishop Peter Majeed. Here is the info on Peter Majeed:
In August 2008, St Paul’s withdrew from the Diocese of Peshawar when Mr. Majeed was consecrated as Bishop of the Northern Diocese Mardan by the former Church of Pakistan Bishop of Karachi, the Rt. Rev. Arne Rudvin.
Bishop Rudvin, who had been the Lutheran Bishop of Mardan before the Lutheran Church joined Anglicans to form the United Church of Pakistan, consecrated Bishop Majeed to re-establish the Lutheran succession in Pakistan. He justified his actions by claiming the Church of Pakistan was corrupt and had succumbed to Western liberalism.
The August 2008 issue of the Diocese of Peshawar newspaper said the attempt to reestablish a Lutheran church in Pakistan was not recognized by the diocese’s European partners. The Danmission, the Norwegian Mission Society, the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission, and the Church of Scotland had “condemned the totally illegal consecration” and did not recognize Bishop Majeed’s claims.
On Sept 7, 2008 Bishop Majeed was installed as bishop and took possession of St Paul’s Church in Mardan, Bishop Rudvin’s former see. On Sept 19, a Pakistani court permitted Bishop Majeed to keep possession of the colonial era church and its adjacent properties. However, the Diocese of Peshawar has appealed the ruling. (READ ENTIRETY; Bomb blast destroys Pakistani church: The Church of England Newspaper, Sept 17, 2010 p 8; By geoconger [i.e. George Conger]; Conger; 9/20/10)
I have dug up some contrasting information on the Peshawar Diocese funding and it appears that could be an entirely different post than the article from Shamim Masih. If you are interested about the inter-Christian squabble in troubled Pakistan here are some links to get you started:
Consider this an intro to Shamim’s “Feeling So Lonely.”
JRH 11/23/13
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Feeling So Lonely
By Shamim Masih
Sent: 11/22/2013 8:07 PM
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan - with a Muslim majority, the country’s Christian population is quite small, about 3-5 percent is Christian. Among them, 98% are living below poverty line. In rural areas, they live under the pressure of their landlords and in urban areas most of them work as laborers and could barely make ends meet. In the capital, Christians live around the seasonal drainage and flood during raining seasons. I know I cannot eradicate poverty or change their social status. Churches and Parishes are busy in making incredible profit by getting donations and selling religious properties to the public, charging for community services. If the church manages [their] funds properly they could easily change their status. But they do not want to do it. Let me say religious leaders have become autocrats and the West is busy in filling filthy buckets. In this situation, I am the only voice among these big bosses and feel so lonely and scared. I do not write for money but for the rights of Christians; money matters to meet the daily needs. I write for the people who suffer for nothing, Christians are the marginalized segment of the society, like me. God fearing Westerners are sending donations for these people to change their living standard but it didn’t reach them and their living remains at the same level. I ever endeavor to reach everywhere, there is turmoil; sometimes I don’t even have the money to travel and I have to borrow it to reach [a report location]. Yes, British Pakistani Christian Association - BPCA shares my travel expenses to some extent. Due to the disconnection of internet services I couldn’t publish anything during last couple of weeks. During the meantime, one of my friends (not mentioning his name) asked me to write for him, I told him the exact situation. And instead of support he suggested me to do it for him during my office timings.
Lying in bed on a lazy winter evening during the curfew in the city of Rawalpindi, due the tense situation in November 2013, something dark and nasty reached out to me and my wife said it is embarrassing that when you are working on a noble cause while the response is not overwhelming. The challenging thing is that most of us do not offer the same kind of kindness to others, that we [reserve] for ourselves. People look forward to do a lot for them but don’t bother if I am in trouble. Doing journalism in a country like Pakistan, which is dominated by Muslim religious extremists, is not easy, especially when you write about religious minorities. Pakistan is perhaps ranked the third most dangerous country for reporting. The country also has one of the highest numbers of journalists threatened, kidnapped and killed.
My aim is to create a peaceful environment in the society and to help eliminate human rights violation/persecution through my writing as I bring the plight of those brave people under spotlight of the whole world. It’s not my aim to write and [do] anything against or to blackmail anyone but to highlight the facts is my responsibility. In this situation; black sheep feel uncomfortable and they blame me in many ways. Someone wrote an email to the chief editor of Pakistan Christian Post (PCP) most recently and [a] year back [as well], Bishop Humphrey Peter(s) wrote to Wilson Chaudhry; claiming that he is real bishop of Mardan church and funds should go to him and it is proven that that real culprit is.
Pakistan, where those working to change an incredibly hostile climate for free speech have found themselves under fierce attack. So in this situation journalists do not dare to write about these activities but I do. Being a Christian journalist, it is indeed become more dangerous to write on minorities’ issues. Many newsrooms forbid their journalists from reporting these kinds of incidents. So it happens with me as well. Apart from my routine work, I usually write on minorities issues. So during my working with different papers in the country (knowingly I [am] not mentioning the names), my editor told me to keep it a low profile or stop it for a while, and if I had to, it [i.e. articles] would go without a byline.
I wish; I can provide education to those who cannot afford it otherwise. I feel so lonely because I am the only voice for my people and people who are in position to support this cause do not care. The situation is really discouraging; I see my future is timorous. It’s really discouraging.
Below are the few links:
Be Blessed,
Shamim Masih
Special Correspondents
Daily Khabrian & Channel - 5
Human Rights Activist
____________________________________
Intro: Feeling So Lonely
Edited by John R. Houk
© November 23, 2013
______________________________
Feeling So Lonely
Edited by John R. Houk
Brackets indicate editorial additions hopefully bringing clarity.
© Shamim Masih
Snapshot of Human Rights Activism from 2011
Christian Rights Activist
Freelance Journalist
Freelance Journalist
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